Last keg, Helles with grains Canadian Blonde, is in the fridge. Temp at pitch was 63.7. Other kegs are holding in the low 50's with the temp control at 52.
Now we wait. And as we wait, we decide what to do. I've learned that if you ask 20 economists a question, you'll get 30 different answers. Based on what I've read in books, online, from this forum, other forums, and on pod casts, how to ferment/condition lagers is about the same thing. WAY too many different ways of what to do next. I'm inviting those who know, *everyone*, to post their thoughts on what I do next.
1) The beer is going to live in the keg for about 19-21 days. The keg I made today is going to ferment for 19 days (bottling this one on Labor day). What should I do before bottle day:
a) remove from the fridge 2 days early for a rest? Is it called diastolic?
b) cold crash for two days? The three kegs which are partial mash have 1/2 teaspoon of Irish Moss, my first time using (for the record, if you want to buy Irish moss, buy only one bag. I bought two, and after three kegs, I have enough to last..........quite a long time). Still I'm going for as much clarity as I can on these, and don't know if Irish Moss will sink to the bottom after a while, or if it might float in the bottle.
c) a bit of both? Out of the fridge for a day or two for a rest, then cold crash for a day or two?
2) At what temp do I carbonate? I've seen carbonate at room temp just like regular ales. If so, would this eliminate the need to rest at room temp above? Or carbonate at the low 50's like they are fermenting
3) At what temp do I condition? Yes, these are lagers, so they will be conditioning for a while, probably past full Oktoberfest. But I want to make them the best I can. I've seen everything from condition at room temp to condition as low as 35 degrees.
4) And in the same theory of "best I can", recommended minimal lagering at the above temp?
Thanks

And for those of you who think that Helles "Bock" is better than Munich Helles................
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PENJxl-THS8
adoYiniM. You might never drink another bock again without this entering your head.

One done, three to go. Was good to get back into the hobby, even though I made major dumb <CENSORED> mistakes. Thermometer that I used to take temps of the mash ripped the mash bag, causing pretty little floaty things to escape the bag. I had to strain the wort when I put it in the keg. Also, I poured the LME too quickly, as I got impatient, and that caused clumps that stuck to the pot. And, I didn't start early enough because I forgot to turn the dish washer on, so I had to wait almost 2 hours. Still, keg #1 in the fridge, cooling down and almost ready for the yeast
Now, three rounds of brewing tomorrow. Just wondering if anyone out there ever did three brews in one day, one regular and two partial mash.

Based on what I'm seeing, Mt. Hood hops is a hybrid of Hallertau, with a stronger Alpha Acid (so it will have a bit more bitterness). Per the BJCP guidelines, "Hop bitterness varies from moderate to moderately low, but always allows malt to dominate the flavor." While you can substitute Hallertau for Mt. Hood, I don't know if you would stay to style....it might come out hoppier. The hoppier flavor might be something you are wanting, so feel free to substitute. It would be a replace, and not combine both, or else you go very hoppier.
And those who know, please feel free to correct me.

I don't taste any hop flavor to the Spaten Munich when I drink it. It's more on the malty side of the scale to me. However, I drink it from tap, not bottle. Perhaps I should do a side-by-side comparison

items ordered and expecting delivery tomorrow. All this hurry hurry hurry to get recipes figured out, then hurry hurry hurry to order the stuff, and I probably can't brew this weekend. WAY too much on the personal front to spend time trying to brew all four this weekend. I'd like to get them all in the fridge at one time, as this takes away my only source to chill beers that I will be drinking. All this and now I have to wait
@Big Sarge, I'm sure you are familiar "hurry up and wait"

@MRB Tim, instead of writing something up, brew something up. If it works out, publish the recipe in the store so that we can all buy it.
And PS, I'm Eastern Daylight Time, so I had a 3 hour advantage over you

@Cammanron, PLEASE don't take what I'm about to say the wrong way. It is REALLY not meant to be derogatory, It's just something that came into my head while re-reading this thread.
What it sounds like you are suggesting is something similar to Garanimals https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garanimals, which is a method that kids can pair up clothing items to make sure they matched, based on an animal tag on each article of clothing. What it sounds like you are wanting is something similar, where if you wanted to make a certain style beer, you would match a yellow tagged HME with (or without) a yellow tagged hop, malt extract and/or grain.
The problem I see with this, again, is that in the brewing hobby, (almost) anything goes. True most people wouldn't add a wheat LME to a Porter HME, but there are many many variations of what can, and what might, go together, that a solid color coding of each ingredient would be a challenge.
Take a look at Mr. Beer's Grocery store. Pick a category (hops, for example), then look at one of the hops (such as Crystal). At the bottom of the page, you will see perhaps four recipes that Mr. Beer sells that has that item. From there, you can open each recipe to see what they used as far as HME, etc, to make the recipe. Again, just about anything can go with anything, but with this method, or my spreadsheet, you can find that certain things more often than not go with others, depending on the beer style.

@Cammanron, the problem I see here is that just about everything can be mixed with anything. You can take a base HME, and some people will add one type of hop because they like mild flavor, while others will do a different hop because they like strong bitterness. Some won't add any hops, but have a different grain or malt extract. In brewing, just about anything goes.
I have a suggestion. Try to devise a start to the color coding system, and show us what you have. From there we can make suggestions and pass on ideas. I had the wild notion once to create a searchable recipe database. I created a spreadsheet, added some recipes, and submitted it to the folks here for comments. They made suggestions on what to add, remove and change. After each refinement, I added more recipes, and submitted updates for further input. The final spreadsheet isn't perfect, but there has been some positive feedback and people said they use it.
Pick one item, such as hop or grain or HME or LME/DME. Look over the different varieties available in the store, and come up with an idea on how to color code them. Maybe with hops, the more red the color, the more alpha-acid, while milder hops would be more toward the green color. Study the recipes (download the spreadsheet if you think it might help), and see how each of the particular category is being used with the various HME's, etc.
Sounds like a challenging project. Not sure if we can get you started, but were always here to help give suggestions.
Good luck

Still doing research, but here are some thoughts. Note that I'm not going to post any exact recipes here in case they are considered "propietery", but if you want more info, send me a message.
From what I've seen in my alternet stock pile of recipes, most are going with 1 cup of honey, zest of two medium oranges, 2 teaspoons of ground cinnamon and one teaspoon of ginger. If you want to add cloves, recommend not more than 1/8 teaspoon. Also, if you like almond, no more than 1/2 teaspoon of almond extract.
An easier option? Search the web for "mulling spices". Mr. Beer has a couple of good recipes with mulling spices that would fit nicely for the holidays, such as KT's Carmel Apple Graff and Mulled Cider (not a beer, but I wonder about adding an HME like a CAL, and that would make the Wassale I keep claiming I will make). Do some reasearch on them, as different brands have different ingredients. I'm wondering if some mulling spices work better for Halloween while others better for Christmas.
You could do the spices with just about any of the HME's such as Bavarian Weissbier (for a wheat flavor), Czech Pilsner, Canadian Blonde, Ameican Ale/Lager/CAL, Nut Brown Ale (Sometimes you feel like a nut, sometimes you don')........all depends on what flavor you want as the base. If you want more malt, replace the booster with one of the LME or DMEs recommeded for your base HME under the Deluxe Refills section of the store.
You could also replace the orange zest with the Oregon fruit sold here, if you have a different fruit flavor preference. Tart or sweet cherries work well for holiday beers. I'm going to try a wheat beer but instead of Oregon fruit here, I'm going to add a can of cranberries (not the Ocean Spray gel, but more the one with whole berries)
If that doesn't make your head start spinning, I'll keep throwing more ideas at you.